


pygmalion’s victory and shame

by summerdayghost



Category: Maurice (1987), Maurice - E. M. Forster
Genre: Canon Related, Character Study, Internalized Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:40:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24769426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerdayghost/pseuds/summerdayghost
Summary: Clive’s opinion on Maurice’s use of the word share.
Relationships: Clive Durham/Maurice Hall, Maurice Hall/Alec Scudder
Comments: 9
Kudos: 66





	pygmalion’s victory and shame

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for prompt forty of the [100 fandoms challenge](https://summerdayghost.dreamwidth.org/1559.html), share.

Clive did not understand that when Maurice used the word “shared” it was in reference to obscenity at first. Or rather the possibility crossed his mind, still in the gutter after all these years of trying to raise himself above his nature, but he desperately hoped to be wrong. Reality would not bend to his whim no matter how much he wanted it to, but Clive was a long time away from accepting that. Even Maurice walking away, disappearing into the green, did not make him see that no wish ever reached the stars upon which they were made.

Such bastardized vocabulary was further evidence of Scudder’s corruption. It must have been his term first. Maurice was not the sort to come up with radical ideas on his own. Such a reframing was likely a key instrument in weakening Maurice’s defenses. Realizing the ways in which Maurice had been manipulated by Scudder broke Clive’s heart.

This was in no small part because Clive recognized his own responsibility for what transpired. Maurice was as impressionable as he was beautiful. Was it not Clive himself that molded him into something Scudder could take advantage of? He was a selfish monster then, tormented by loneliness and plagued by base desires. If this was the human cost it had, thank God that Clive had learned to look the other way when it came to his own heart.

Shared. It should be a crime in itself to describe debauchery in such altruistic language. Sharing suggested fraternity and compassion. Clive felt it was the platonic ideal of masculine love as an action, and should not be associated with crossing disgusting lines.

Was the truth too painful for Maurice to face or was it simply beyond his comprehension? When Scudder engaged in sexual intercorse with Maurice there was no sharing involved. When Scudder _fucked_ Maurice all he did was take from him. He took a wide variety of things, chief of which were his purity and moral character, and each time the act was repeated Maurice would lose more. This would chip away at his soul. In some other world this might have been fine, but human souls were not made of marble and Scudder was anything but a sculptor.

Furthermore, if Scudder was taking from Maurice then he was flat out stealing from Clive. This was not a train of thought Clive allowed himself to entertain for long. The risk that came with properly untangling it was too dire. But he understood this idea was connected to the way that when Maurice said, “I was yours till death,” he found himself injured by the past tense.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
